NZX Agri Journalists win Rural Women Journalism Award

Media release
15 October 2012
For immediate release


NZX Agri Journalists win Rural Women Journalism Award

Shining a spotlight on women living and working in rural areas has seen two journalists from the NZX Agri group take out the Rural Women New Zealand Journalism Award 2012.

The Rural Women New Zealand Award recognises journalism that portrays the important contribution women make to farm businesses and in rural communities.

This year’s winner was Jackie Harrigan for articles that appeared in Country-Wide magazine, while Andrew Stewart of Young Country was runner up.

Their success was celebrated at the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists’ Awards dinner in Wellington on Friday evening.

In presenting the award, Rural Women NZ national president, Liz Evans, said the winning entries were refreshing, informative and topical and reflected the true professionalism of the farming women whose stories they told.

One story, for example, involved school leaver Anita, who finally got her dream job as a shepherd on a North Island hill country station, only to experience a quad bike accident that left her in a wheelchair. But Anita’s fighting spirit has ensured that she is still pursuing a career in agriculture.

A total of ten awards were presented, nine for journalism and one for photography.

Liz Evans said, “Rural Women New Zealand continues to support these awards as we see the calibre and content of the entries about rural women, their lives, businesses and communities grow more dynamic each time.”

Other award winners were:

AGMARDT Agribusiness Award - Hugh Stringleman

AgResearch Science Writers Award - Tim Cronshaw, The Press; runner up, Peter Burke, Rural News

Beef + Lamb NZ News Award - Richard Rennie

Ballance Agri-Nutrients - Tim Cronshaw, The Press; runner up, Ali Tocker, Waikato Times

Guild Encouragement Award - John Watson, Country99TV

Federated Farmers Rural Photograph Award - Jonathan Cameron, Taranaki Daily News

Horticulture New Zealand Journalism Award -Tim Fulton, NZ Farmers Weekly; runner up, Susan Murray, Country Life

PGG Wrightson Sustainable Land Management Award - Susan Murray, Country Life

The TBfree New Zealand Rongo Award, Benedict Collins, for programmes prepared for Country99TV (now freelance); runner up, Shawn McAvinue, for articles which appeared in the Southland Times (now with Otago Daily Times)

ENDS

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